The Burks of Georgia

This portrait is part of a series of TV programmes about the daily lives of American families with different backgrounds. The Burk family lives in Georgia, in the south of the United States. Father and mother Burk have had thirteen children, three of whom died. Most of the surviving children live in the vicinity of the parental home with their families. The Burks have not had an easy life; father has an alcohol problem and mother always had to work hard to make ends meet and to see to it that the children went to school. The special element in this portrait is that the people who are portrayed were shown the film and asked by the makers whether they felt their life was reflected ‘true-to-life’. Their reactions were then added to the film. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)